


Shield

by Alina0



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Blood and Injury, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Whump, wound mending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-05
Updated: 2020-07-05
Packaged: 2021-03-04 22:54:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,974
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25094188
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Alina0/pseuds/Alina0
Summary: Gladio earns a scar across his face while protecting Noctis from a drunken stranger in the streets. In return, Noctis takes care of him and does everything he can to help him feel better.
Relationships: Gladiolus Amicitia/Noctis Lucis Caelum
Comments: 5
Kudos: 36
Collections: FFXV Brotherly Love Week





	Shield

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the 7th day of the brotherly love week! I really love this ship. I just didn't know how much until I wrote this <3  
> The wound isn't as big as it is in the game. Otherwise he should've gone to the hospital.

Everything happened so quickly. One moment they were walking by a park and down the streets, and the next, Gladiolus Amicitia was in his arms with an open wound across his face. Noctis wasn’t feeling good either. His heart had started to pound against his chest, his blood surging in his ears with an alarming feeling that something horrible was going to happen again.

The day was peaceful. They had gone walking as usual, with the only difference that it took them a little longer to go back home. Noctis and Gladio decided to have dinner out after their stroll. When they were on their way to the apartment, it suddenly happened. A drunk man was getting on Noctis’s way and trying to open an unwanted conversation. Despite disagreeing and attempting to walk away, the man stopped him and pulled out a knife that came out of nowhere.

Gladio, the stubborn and reckless man he was, stood in front of him with the gesture of shielding and stepped forward to fight against the man. Unfortunately, the knife brushed upon the larger man’s face, and when he drove forward to seize it from the man’s hands, it cut through, and the man used the opportunity to run away.

The whole time, Noctis was trying to protect him. But no matter how hard he tried, Gladio didn’t let him step ahead and keep him safe. He could run after the man and catch him, but something deep inside told him that he had to stay and make sure Gladio was okay. The man wasn’t worth it anyway.

Gladio had the fabric of his shirt and his hands pressed firmly against the wound, refusing to move or replace them with something cleaner. As much as he was wearing that shirt the whole day, and it was probably dirty by now, they didn’t have any other clothes either. They had to make do before Gladio lost blood, and it was too late. 

Noctis settled his hands upon the shield’s, but Gladio eventually pushed them away and jerked his head to prevent him from seeing his wound. 

He didn’t give up, though.

“Gladio, move your hand,” he begged as he struggled to remove the larger man’s hands from his face. When he failed and was pushed backward, he nearly yelled, “Gladio!”

“What?”

“Move your hand! You’re bleeding. You have to see a doctor,” said Noctis.

Gladio shook his head with a mocking smirk. “Don’t touch me, kid.”

“You’re bleeding, dumbass. I can’t leave you alone like this. I won’t let you die on me,” Noctis insisted with a grimace. His frown deepened when Gladio didn’t reply.

 _Come on. Don’t be stubborn. That is going to get you killed. I can’t see you die. Not now,_ he thought.

“I ain’t gonna die. It’s just a small wound, nothing special or dangerous,” responded Gladio. He kept his gaze away, avoiding eye contact.

Noctis drew in a deep breath. He stepped closer to Gladio and let his hands brush against the powerful and tattooed arms. “So, can you please let me see?” he said, tone low to convince the shield. “Please. I need to see if it’s that bad or not. Gladio, you might need stitches.”

When Gladio finally removed his hands and turned his head toward Noctis to observe the wound, he heaved out a sigh of relief. It wasn’t as bad as he’d expected. He was still bleeding, but it had gotten less and was not that worrying.

After he got a complete look and nodded, Gladio lifted his hand and resumed to stop the bleeding with his shirt.

“See? I’m fine. Now let go,” the shield replied.

“You’re not fine.”

“Yeah, I am.”

“You’re not. Can you stop pushing me away for a damn second?” he hissed. Leaning closer to Gladio, he put a hand on his shoulder. He pressed his lips together.

_Come on. You’ve got this. Just remember Ignis’s lectures and you’ll be fine._

After a short pause, he eventually started, “Okay. Okay. I’ve got this. Iggy taught me some things about wounds. This is an incision one. Not too deep, but still dangerous. We gotta go to the hospital.”

Gladio shrugged, followed by a groan of pain muffled by his shirt, pressed against his mouth. “I know that you’re worried, princess. But the bleeding has stopped.”

“Okay. Let’s go home.” Noctis sighed. He patted him on the back and urged him to move forward. He was never this grateful that his apartment was near to them so that they could arrive sooner and save the Shield’s life. “But you gotta let me take care of it. Me or a doctor, alright?”

“Don’t you get tired of talking that much?”

“I can’t see you hurt, Gladio.” Noctis frowned, and then, “Why did you do that? Why did you do this to yourself and... and—”

“I’m your sworn Shield. It’s my responsibility to protect you against those assholes,” Gladio cut in.

“So what? Is putting your life at risk for me your responsibility too?”

“If that keeps you alive and safe, yeah.”

_I am the prince. I’m the one that should protect people. I’m the one that should keep you safe no matter what._

“I could take care of myself,” he said instead, not daring to express his true feelings as they walked toward their apartment. “I’m not a kid anymore, Gladio. You can’t just shield me from everyone in this world. I was supposed to get hurt, not you.”

He heard the other man laugh next to his ears. “I would’ve done the same if I knew what would happen. I don’t regret it,” he replied, slowly but stubbornly, his voice confident with complete certainty. “Don’t be a brat. I saved your life. Is that your way of thanking the ones that saves you?”

“I—” Noctis gulped. He looked down at their feet with the lack of anything better to do. “Thank you. But seriously, I thought I’m going to lose you. I was so worried. Don’t act stupid like that anymore.”

“Yeah. Whatever you say, princess.”

It took them ten minutes to arrive. Gladio was noticeably in pain, but he tried to keep it quiet and decided not say anything about it. Noctis realized that fact, though. He had lived and grown with that man for over a decade. They could understand each other even without any words.

Stepping inside the apartment and kicking his shoes off, Noctis instructed him to sit on the couch. He rushed to the living room to make sure Gladio was doing what he was told. He grabbed his phone to call the advisor to seek help.

“I’m going to call Iggy and ask him to come over,” Noctis announced as he dialed the phone and rocked back and forth with the gesture of nervousness. As usual, Ignis answered the call shortly after. “Hey, specs. Do you have time?’

“Of course. What’s the matter?” Ignis replied.

“It’s Gladio. Somebody attacked us in the street and— can you just come here quickly? I’ll explain later.”

“What? Are you two fine at the moment?” 

He glanced at Gladio and gave him a wry smile. “Yeah, yeah. I’m safe. He’s doing good too. It’s just a small wound,” he said with an undertone. “I try to help him. Just be quick, okay?”

“I will be there as soon as I can.”

“Thanks, specs. See you.” Hanging up, Noctis shot the other man a look and blew out his cheeks. “Let me see if I can help you myself, Gladio.” He sprinted ahead to grab an antibiotic ointment and a clean towel wetted with warm water. Noctis carefully washed his hands. When he approached Gladio, he was leaning on the couch and had let go of his shirt. His wound was no longer bleeding. It was a good sign.

He lowered himself on the couch, slowly brushing his fingers on the skin around the wound. Gladio hissed, followed by a chuckle.

“The blood loss didn’t kill me. I doubt if you don’t, though.”

“Wow, so funny. I’m dying of laughter,” Noctis mocked, his expression deadpan. He settled the bottle on his lap and leaned closer to the other man. “It will sting a bit. Can you handle it?”

“It can’t hurt worse than getting stabbed. Go on and show me what you got.”

“I’ll be careful, don’t worry.” He gently put the towel upon the wound, patting it with care and shaky hands. Gladio let out a spontaneous groan. Noctis assumed it was the result of his own doing. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to do that. I’m just trying to help you.”

“I know. Don’t sweat it,” Gladio responded. He pointed at the wound with a laugh. “See? I’m not bleeding. The wound’s not deep too. I don’t need a doctor.”

He gulped thickly. “Whatever. I’ll take better care of you than a doctor anyway.”

He was too, _too_ careful not to hurt him. Noctis knew that Gladio was a hardass and nothing would happen to him. But still, there was a feeling growing inside that kept reminding him to be gentle with the Shield. Noct didn’t want to see Gladio hurt. He didn’t want to see him suffer just because he was the Prince. It was so damn unfair.

The wound now cleaned, he opened the bottle and applied a thin layer of antibiotics cream upon Gladio’s injury. He moved slowly and rubbed small circles on the other man’s skin, doing whatever Ignis had taught him before. For once, he was glad that he had listened to what his advisor had told him. Otherwise, Gladio would have ended up getting an infection that would worsen his injury.

“Last time you tried to mend a wound, you ended up passing out at the sight of blood. What happened to that little kid?” Gladio eventually broke the overwhelming silence.

“It seems like he’s growing up.” Noctis laughed. “Kids grow up, Gladio. You were only nine when I met you. Do you remember those days? You used to act really independent to impress everyone around you. That was when your sister was born. You would always say that you have to take care of Iris and me.”

“And I never broke my promise.”

“You never broke your promise,” he repeated, putting the bottle aside and sitting next to Gladio for a while before searching the whole apartment for a bandage. Noctis resumed as he returned, “You know, Gladio, I always wonder what have I done that you guys want to protect me. I’ve always been mean to you. I don’t deserve to be taken care of.”

“Sure, you can be a spoiled little brat sometimes, but you’re a good person. You deserve to be protected, and I’m proud to be your Shield.” Gladio gave him a glance from the corner of his eyes, a mere trace of a smile tugging at his lips. “I wasn’t. Well, back then. But you proved me wrong.”

Noctis hung his head. “I’m glad that you don’t hate me.”

“I can’t ever hate you, kid. Yeah, you sometimes make me go insane, but that doesn’t mean I don’t care for you.”

“Thank you, Gladio, for everything. For protecting me. For not letting me get hurt. I swear I’ll keep you safe and repay for all that.”

“No need to repay. Once again, you just proved to me that you deserve all of that. I never thought that small and shy Prince would take care of me at some point in my life.”

Noctis smiled at him. _Neither did I,_ he thought with a chuckle. Time really did fly, after all.

“You’ll never know what life has in store for you.” After a short pause of thinking whether he should say the next sentence, Noctis whispered, “Thanks for being here for me, Gladio.”

**Author's Note:**

> Come scream at me on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/Alinaa_SF)👀


End file.
